HYDERABAD: A Sindh High Court (SHC) bench of Hyderabad circuit on Wednesday asked the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) to help people and not to put in them trouble over issuance of computerised national identity cards (CNICs).

The division bench, comprising Justice Nadeem Akhtar and Justice Khadim Hussain Tunio, was hearing the petition of an elderly person who had been denied renewal of his CNIC for the past six years.

Nadra’s regional assistant director Hafeez Nizamani was called by the court for hearing before passing the order. Justice Akhtar asked why the petitioner was not issued the CNIC by Nadra even after six years.

Mr Nizamani told the court that the record of the petitioner, Mohammad Ali, son of Chand Munshi, a resident of Bihar Colony, Kotri, was blocked because he had got wrongly issued NIC in 1995 and that’s why as per standard operating procedure (SOPs), his case was referred to the Special Branch. His credentials were doubtful and that was why the issue remained pending, he said.

Justice Akhtar said that if the card had been issued wrongly, it was on the part of Nadra and not the person. He said that today a person could not move, travel, get arms or had an account opened without the CNIC.

The judge asked what would happen if tomorrow there was another policy that a man would not sport beard, the Nadra official promptly replied that he would himself lose his CNIC.

The judge told him that “a policy can’t overrule law”. He maintained the petitioner was living here for the past 30 years and yet he had not got his CNIC.

The Nadra official said the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had sent petitioner’ case to District Level Committee (DLC) headed by concerned deputy commissioner where the petitioner did not appear.

When the court asked if the petitioner was intimated to appear before the DLC, the official replied in negative. How would the petitioner appear when he was not issued any notice in that regard, said the court.

The court directed the petitioner to appear before the DLC within seven days and the DC Jamshoro would convene a meeting of the committee within 15 days to decide his case.

Justice Akhtar asked the Nadra official to dispose of cases of people by helping them instead of putting them in trouble.

Published in Dawn, February 23th, 2023